Just out of an eighteen-year marriage, the last thing Jackson expects the first time he visits a gay bar is for a sexy, drunk, twenty-six-year-old twink to mistakenly climb into his Jeep. The twink part he’s good with, the drunk part…not so much. As far as Jackson’s concerned, the boy should come with a warning label. But Derek is not as flighty as Jackson thought…he’s actually pretty incredible. Getting to know the wild, funny man is a breath of fresh air. And when Derek calls him Daddy? Christ, he never thought something like that would feel so right.

Derek has serious daddy issues, and his name is Jackson. He’s stubborn and controlling…and ever since Derek woke up in the silver fox’s condo, he can’t get Jackson out of his mind. Maybe because no matter how many times he throws himself at him, Jackson doesn’t take the bait. And maybe because Jackson is the one person who sees him for who he really is. But Derek loves a challenge, and he’s eager to rock Jackson’s world.

Jackson isn’t interested in a meaningless hookup. He wants the real Derek, not just the sassy jokester everyone else sees. But it’s not easy for Derek to open up. He feels much safer guarding his heart. And Jackson needs to figure out the balance between living for himself and the mountain of responsibilities weighing him down. Derek and Jackson must find the common ground between hookup and commitment—if they can’t own their issues and work together to overcome their faults, they could smother the flame between them that’s just beginning to ignite.

Derek has become a fan favorite character of the Metropolis series for good reason. He's the life of the party. Smart, snarky, loyal, and, at times, fierce. Most of these qualities are defense mechanisms, designed to keep virtually anyone from getting close. We all have our secrets, and Derek employs these traits to keep his hidden.

Enter Jackson, freshly out of a long-term marriage and out of the closet. Burdened by an overwhelming sense of obligation to his family, Jackson is in desperate need of some levity in his life. The two meet in the most unconventional and hilarious of ways and are pulled together like polar opposites of the same magnet.

While most writers will take the discovery of secrets, and use it to tear characters apart, Riley and Devon use them to strengthen the relationship. It's a refreshing change from the norm. That's not to say that there aren't problems; because there are. But every one of them is true to who Derek and Jackson are as characters. We can all relate to the "love and lost", making Derek very anti-relationship. And we all want someone like Jackson in our lives, someone that will stand beside us through life's many trials. These two fit together like two giant puzzle pieces to make a perfect picture.